My boss’s six-year-old son pointed at me in a hallway full of dangerous men and announced that I was too beautiful to be alone, so I should become his mommy. Everyone expected Adrian Kane, Manhattan’s most feared crime boss, to shut him down, but instead he asked one quiet question, and his little boy’s answer wiped every trace of color from his face.

I didn't think. I just reacted.

I threw open the car door and threw myself at him.

David stumbled backward, dropping his weapon as I collided with his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. He smelled like cheap cigarettes, rain, and the faint, metallic tang of blood.

“Clara,” he choked out, wrapping his arms around me, burying his face in my hair. “God, Clara, you’re so big. You’re entirely grown up.”

“You’re alive,” I cried, hitting his chest weakly. “You’ve been alive this whole time and you never came for me!”

“I couldn’t,” he said, his voice breaking as he gently pushed me back to look at my face. His features were hardened by years on the run, a long scar cutting across his left cheek. “Eleanor told me she killed Mom. She said if I ever came near you, you’d be next. I’ve been working for her rivals, trying to dismantle her empire from the outside to keep you safe.”

“Marcus said you were dead,” I gasped, remembering the blood-stained rosary.

“I almost was,” David said grimly. “Marcus ambushed me yesterday. He took my rosary to prove to Eleanor he finished the job, but I got the upper hand. Adrian found me bleeding out in an alley. He patched me up and told me to track this car’s GPS.”

“Adrian,” I gasped, grabbing his jacket. “David, Adrian is still at the office. Marcus shot him. We have to go back.”

David’s expression darkened. He looked past me, his eyes landing on Noah, who was peering out from the backseat, clutching Gerald.

“Adrian gave me strict orders, Clara,” David said heavily. “My only job is to get you and the kid to the decryption key. He said if I took you back into the crossfire, he’d kill me himself.”

“I don’t care what he said!” I screamed, the panic taking over. “I am not leaving him there to die! He loves me, David. And I love him.”

The truth spilled out of me before I even realized it was there. But it was undeniable. The cold, silent boss I had worked for was a phantom. The man who had protected me, the man who looked at me like I was his entire world, was the man I loved.

David stared at me, seeing the absolute fierce determination in my eyes. The little sister he had left behind was gone.

He cursed under his breath, picking up his gun. “Get in the van. We’re taking my crew.”

I grabbed Noah from the SUV and strapped him into the back of David’s armored van.

“Are we going to get Dad?” Noah asked, his voice trembling.

“Yes, baby,” I promised, kissing his forehead. “We’re bringing him home.”

David drove like a madman, tearing through the Manhattan streets back toward the Kane Enterprises building. He tossed a heavy bulletproof vest into my lap. “Put that on.”

“I don’t know how to shoot,” I said, strapping the velcro tightly over my chest.

“You aren’t going to,” David said, checking his magazines. “You are going to take this hard drive and march straight into the boardroom on the top floor. Today is the syndicate’s annual summit. The heads of the Five Families are all in that building right now.”

My stomach plummeted. “What?”

“Eleanor timed her coup perfectly,” David explained, swerving around a taxi. “She’s presenting her case to the Five Families right now, proving Adrian is weak so they’ll back her takeover. If we don’t get this hard drive to the bosses and expose her theft, they’ll execute Adrian on the spot.”

“But we don’t have the decryption key!” I cried. “It’s at my old house!”

David slammed on the brakes as we skidded to a halt outside the towering glass skyscraper. He turned to me, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out the silver locket Adrian had given me earlier—the one with our mother's picture.

“Mom didn't hide the key in the house, Clara,” David said softly. “Adrian just wanted you far away from the danger. Mom hid the key in here.”

David pressed a hidden latch on the back of the locket. The silver backing popped off, revealing a tiny, gold microchip.

I stared at it in awe. Adrian had given me the weapon to destroy his mother, and then sent me away to save my life, fully intending to face the syndicate alone.